The Prodigal A Ragamuffin Story Author:Brennan Manning, Greg Garrett Jack Chisholm is on top of his game: lead pastor of a big church in a big city, thousands of members, a huge physical plant. His books sell millions of copies, and he is a public figure, sharing his life's philosophy: 'We have got to do better.' He is also living a lie---nobody could be as holy as his congregants think he is, and like all of us,... more » he has his share of faults, flaws, sins. When one of these comes to light, the board of deacons gives him a choice: walk away or be publicly shamed. They wouldn't dare, he thinks. I mean too much to this church. So he laughs at them and refuses to even acknowledge what he has done. And they fire him, publicly, messily. Jack loses everything overnight: his church, his friends, his money, his reputation, and his family. His wife, Tracy, humiliated and disgusted with Jack's recklessness and unwillingness to take responsibility, takes the church's buy-out and their daughter Alison and goes into hiding. Jack has been a pastor his entire adult life. His only marketable skill---proclaiming the Word of the Lord---is now valueless. How to live? What to do? Take a minimum wage job? Give up? Kill himself? He falls into a bottle and hopes it all will blow over. At last, out of money, out of hope, the impossible happens. His father arrives to rescue him with these simple words: Come home. Thus begins Jack's journey back . . . back to himself, back to hope, back to his Father.« less